It is known in modern automobile manufacture to employ laminated metal, particularly laminated steel, in the forming of components such as oil pans, rocker covers, wheelhouse inners and front-dash structures. Laminated metal is comprised of two sheets of metal, such as steel, aluminum or magnesium, with a layer of polymer interposed therebetween.
The polymer core layer acts to adhere the metal sheets together and also provides a visco-elastic coupling between the metal sheets that dampens noise and vibration.
The laminated sheet metal can be shaped by known metal forming processes such as stamping. Laminated metal is known to provide a good combination of vibration damping properties and high strength-to-weight ratios and is accordingly of interest to meeting the exacting performance demands of a variety of industries.
It would be desirable to provide a laminated sheet metal, which could be tailored to provide optimal characteristics of metal adhesion and vibration damping properties.